The invention relates to a machine for the spreading of material in granular and powder form, which is equipped with a supply container whose walls extend downwardly in the manner of a hopper, from which the material is fed to a distributor means, and in which, when the machine is in the loading position, the upper margin of the rear container wall is at a distance from the ground which is smaller than the generally common minimum distance from the ground of the lowermost edge of the dump body of a dump truck with the said dump body in the dumping position.
A machine of this type has been disclosed in German Pat. No. 23 19 308. In this machine it is advantageous that its supply container can be filled conveniently and quickly by hand with material from a bulk container and from the flat or tilted floor of the body of a truck, due to its low structural height in the loading position. It is a considerable disadvantage, however, that the supply container has a relatively small capacity, so that, although the reloading of the supply container is accomplished quickly due to its ease of loading, frequent stops are required for the purpose, and this greatly reduces the surface output of the machine.
Also, German Offenlegungsschrift No. 14 57 876 discloses a machine for the spreading of material in granular and powder form, in which the front wall of its supply container as seen in the top plan view, has surfaces extending slantingly downward, while the rear container wall has a planar surface extending straight from the one lateral container wall to the other. Furthermore, the rear container wall is equipped with a prolongation extending in part beyond the lateral container walls, these prolongations being inclined towards the center of the supply container. From this it necessarily follows that the rear edges of the prolongations of the lateral container walls are inclined forwardly.
This machine is characterized by a great holding capacity. It is disadvantageous, however, that the filling of its supply container by hand is extremely strenuous and time-consuming due to its great structural height even when the machine is in the lowered, loading position, and cannot be performed at all from a bulk material container or from a dump vehicle unless the material is also supposed to be transferred entirely by hand. It is furthermore disadvantageous that this machine, in spite of the rearwardly facing surfaces of the front container wall, can be hitched to a tractor only at such a great distance from the rear axle of the tractor that, when the supply container is full, there is a danger of causing the tractor to rear upward.
Finally, a machine for the spreading of material in granular and powder form is disclosed in German Pat. No. 11 36 865, which is constructed as a trailer-mounted apparatus, and in which the lower portion of the supply container is divided into two funnels separated from one another by a roof-shaped central portion, the bottom outlet extremities of the said funnels being at a relatively great distance from one another. Furthermore, all of the container walls are equipped with prolongations extending upwardly and at an inclination toward the center of the container. In this machine, too, the relatively great carrying capacity is advantageous. It is disadvantageous, however, that the supply container is disposed so high on the machine frame that, in spite of its relatively low construction, filling it presents the same difficulties as in the previously described machine.